Are you in need of inspiration for Fall & Halloween activities? This post will give you some ideas for a fun-filled Fall and Halloween season for your little ones, including day trips, sensory activities and arts and crafts:

• Pumpkin & apple picking at a farm: Experiences, experiences, experiences! Nothing quite like taking your children to a local farm to gather fruits & veggies and while you’re at it, enjoy other activities there like a hayride or a pony ride. Use the apples you picked to make an apple pie with your toddler, who can help you cut the apples and make the filling and dough. You can also use the apples for a fun “bobbing” for apples fine motor, sensory activity outside: place the apples in fresh, clean water in a tub and have your toddler catch the apples with tongs or her teeth.
• Wash & paint the pumpkins: This is one of my favorite practical life activities that involves providing your toddler and/or baby with a tub, water and soap and a brush to scrub the pumpkins until they are clean. This was a clear success with both my children and kept them busy for at least 30 minutes. Once the pumpkins are dry, have your toddler paint the pumpkins with paint sticks (best mess-free kind of paint!).
• Decorate your home & garden for Fall & Halloween season: Enlist your little one’s help with this fun task — have her plant Scarecrows or Halloween-themed characters on a stick into the ground; place pumpkins and fall flowers on your doorsteps; drape lights on the banister; hang ghosts or ghoulish characters on a tree or a hook; have her put stickers on the windows.
• Go for a walk around your neighborhood to see all the fall & Halloween decorations. This has multiple functions: get some exercise with your little ones (more tips on how to stay fit as a mother here), get some fresh air, get the kids out of the house AND this will help them develop their sense of observation as they notice things, point to different characters/items and describe to you what they see. If you are a bilingual family and you are looking to hone the target language, emphasize the name of these characters in the given language. For more tips on raising bilingual children, read my post here.
• Cat and pumpkin felt set: This is a fun activity — I bought a cat & pumpkin felt set for Emilia, who placed the different felt pieces on the Jack-o-lantern and cat. Again, I worked on reinforcing the minority language in our household, which is French, by talking about Halloween characters in said language (“sorcière“, “citrouille“, “fantôme“, “araignée” etc).
• Halloween sensory bins: Just get some spaghetti, cook it, add some food coloring to them in ziplock bags, freeze them overnight and the next day, add the different colored-spaghetti to a sensory bin, along with gooey eye balls (can use peeled seedless grapes for example), creepy crawlers, and glow-in-the-dark toys to wake up all of their senses. Throw in some toddler-friendly scissors and get her to practice her practical life skills by cutting the spaghetti! If you have a baby, make sure all the items in the sensory bin are safe and not a choking hazard.
• Costume time and Trick or Treat! It’s Halloween! Get them involved in making the costume. Keep it simple, listen to what they want to dress up as for Halloween if they are able to express their preferences. Our toddler wanted to be a cat and was adamant about applying makeup on her own face and on mine (I was “Maman”cat). Once they are in their costumes, give them each an eco-friendly, reusable Halloween bag, as opposed to a plastic bag or bucket, go trick or treating around your neighborhood and set a limit on how much candy they can eat in one day (or you’ll never get them to bed!)

Happy Fall and Halloween season!